Finer Feelings
by Kronoskingofthemonkeypeople
Summary: POST-FREEDOM. Meredith waits for Derek, Callie and Hahn wonder what it means, Lexie wonders what that meant, Izzie seriously wonders what that meant, and Cristina and Mark...well, let's just see.
1. Chapter I

**Finer Feelings – Chapter I**

Meredith snapped back.

She had been trailing off with her thoughts but now she took a deep sigh and looked around her. Her house. Well, her candles. Her candles which had taken an hour for her to set up, constantly worrying that Derek would show up half way through and wonder what the hell some crazy women was doing throwing candles around his land.

Meredith sat down on the illuminated earth and looked out at faint light of Seattle in the distance.

She was free. For once in her life…just free. No guilt in her stomach, no small voice warning her in the back of her head, just clarity.

Meredith looked down at the bottle of warm champagne in her and lay down in her hallway. Scratching the label slightly she looked up at the stars. _Derek_. He was actually going to break it off with Rose before it got all complicated and whatever. And for some reason, she had no doubt she would. Letting go of the past made her trust him for some reason. Derek was going to come back. But what then?

_But what then?_

Meredith propped herself up from the grass as the question resonated through her head. What then? House? Marriage? Children? Mid-life Crisis? Retirement? Meredith frowned slightly as cliques of normal life rushed past.

A cold wind rose for a second and her face softened. Who the hell cares what happens, she's with Derek, and she's in for the long run – _that's_ all that mattered.

She's with Derek.

She was free.

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Callie let herself drift off, in ecstasy just to remain there, eyes closed as she could feel the warmth just millimetres away from her lips, the hot breath enveloping her.

"Wow."

Callie opened her eyes suddenly to see Hahn close to her, a grin forming on her face.

"That was even better then last time."

Callie gulped and readjusted herself. "Ah, yeah." She looked at Hahn again and her stomach tied. "It…that was." Callie smiled.

"So," Hahn tore her eyes away from Callie look down at her bag, forgotten on the bench. "I gotta find my keys. Like, right now."

"You trying to take me back to yours?" Callie raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Yeah." Hahn trailed off as she tried frantically to look through her bag, chucking out all the contents on the bench. "It's not working that well though…"

Callie laughed. "Come on, I'll get you a drink."

Hahn quickly looked up at Callie. "Ah, I'm taking that as a bad sign."

"_Not_ at Joes." Callie replied coolly. "But I know a good place, and they have some _really _good breakfast service."

Hahn smiled and packed her bag again, slinging it over shoulder. "Well," She put out her hand, "Shall we?"

Callie glanced down at Hahn's hand, a flood of doubt suddenly rushed past. But she gulped in down and placed her hand out, letting Hahn enclose it softly, and they walked down the courtyard together.

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Rose let the couch swallow her as she lay back and stared at the ceiling of her apartment, sucking on a red liquorice stick dangling out of her mouth. She needed sugar, and lots of it. But then thinking about a lot of sugar made her think about dying in a diabetic coma which then made her think of Derek, which would then make her think about…well, basically she couldn't think about Derek. Because she knew, she _knew_ what was going to happen, the second they were there in the scrub room.

Well, she knew that's what happens when you get in between _the couple_.

Rose tore off a chunk of liquorice. How could she have been so stupid? I mean, the tales of Derek and Meredith were practically all the nurses lived off for a year. But it wasn't her fault. He was, well, dreamy. She really did like him – yes, maybe for a second _love_ him – and she did think that she liked her, but, probably not enough.

She heard the faint ding of the elevator down the hallway and she sat up in her couch, once more knowing anxiously on her red liquorice stick.

There was a knock on her door.

Sighing, she sat up from the couch and walked towards the door, quickly popping her nearly finished candy in the kitchen bin. Drawing in breath, Rose put her hand on the door handle and opened it.

"Heya Derek."

Derek looked down at Rose sadly, his hand stuffed in his jacket pockets. "Rose…"

"You wanna drink?" Rose cut him off, letting Derek step cautiously into her apartment, the door closing behind him.

"I'm fine." Derek said simply and Rose stopped as she pulled out two glasses from the cupboard. "Listen," Derek started slowly, "we need to…I need to say something."

Rose nodded slowly. "Meredith…"

Derek looked down. "I can't help it, it's just that…I mean she's – "

"The one." Rose finished.

Derek looked back up at her. "I'm sorry Rose, I'm sorry – I'm sorry for doing this to you. I feel awful, like I took advantage of you when I needed something else – "

"Hey," Rose smiled meekly. "I was consensual."

Derek stared at Rose for a second. "Listen, I didn't – "

"It's ok." Rose interjected again. "I understand. She's the love of your life."

At those words a smile appeared on Derek's face which he quickly had to force down in front of Rose. There was a moment of silence. Derek tilted his head slightly and smiled warmly at Rose. "Thank you. I know this isn't any consolation at all but, thank you. You helped me. You probably wished you never helped me figure stuff out now, but truly – thank you. I just hope you find someone, someone who deserves you."

"Yeah," Rose sighed sarcastically. "Who knows; Sloan's always lookin'."

Derek smiled slightly then stuffed his hands in his pockets. "But I should…"

Rose felt her insides tie up again. "Yeah. You should. I'll see you around then."

"Yeah." Derek opened the door and turned around again. "Good bye Rose."

And with that, he was gone.

Rose stood in silence for a second then walked dully over to her couch, crashing herself over it. Lying there for a second, Rose looked over to the coffee table where the candy packet lay, grabbed a stick then tore off a piece of red liquorice into her mouth.

Well, at least he's happy now.

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**NB: Why, hello! This is me! Doing another post-season-greys –fic! Why? No idea. Just finished exams so currently twiddling my thumbs thinking what the hell should I do now. The answer? Fanfic. Always fanfic. And what better than to do post-OMGthegreatestkissever-seenlasttwominutesonethousandtimes-fic?**

**Exactly. **

**So. I know there's probably thousands of way better post-freedom fics but I thought I may as well have a stab at it, cause writing greys is fun. But – now for some admin. Thinking about character progression, was thinking that Cristina should really get someone. But the only way I could do that is by bringing in a new character. And, you know, that could be weird having a new character. What do you think?**

**But yesh, please tell me how you think I'm going, so I can stop this crap before it swamps the INTER-WEB. Thus, REVIEW!!**


	2. Chapter II

**Finer Feelings – Chapter II**

Meredith sat back down on the grass and put down the two champagne glasses she had brought from the trailer next to the bottle of champagne she had left among the candles. Lying propped on the grass, Meredith closed her eyes and felt the soft breeze blow past.

"So," A low voice appeared behind her. "You want to build us a house." Meredith looked over her shoulder to see Derek sauntering through the line of candles into their living room. "Should I take this as sign to start chopping down trees?" Derek smiled softly, a twinkle in his eye.

Meredith tracked Derek silently as he moved in the hallway and sat down beside her on the grass, staring contently (and, she had to say, quite dreamily) into her eyes. "About that;" Meredith tried to keep her inhibitions. "We might have to get some men in. I don't think I'm very good at building, I'll probably burn the whole place down."

"I'll get you a fire extinguisher." Derek murmured as he moved close to Meredith and took her in with a kiss. A wave of emotions rushed through him. He had missed kissing Meredith, oh, how he had missed kissing her. All the complications that came before disappeared into nothing the moment he smelt the lavender of her hair, the flowery scent intoxicating him as he moved from her lips and kissed the crook of her neck. They were finally together. _Finally. _

Derek pulled back.

Meredith looked like someone had split a bucket of cold water on her. "Seriously?" She looked at him exasperatedly, wondering why the hell the kissing had stopped. "What is it this time?"

"Champagne." Derek smiled as he leaned over Meredith and grabbed the bottle that lay beside her. "We had a promise, remember?"

Meredith watched as Derek tore off the gold foil around the top and unscrewed the metal stopper. Gently pulling out the cork with a loud pop, he raised the bottle to the glasses Meredith held out and poured the champagne into both. A smile that formed when he brushed Meredith's fingers as he took his glass now faded as he took it to his lips. With tired eyes, Derek looked at the champagne in his hand. "This," he murmured, "this is for Phillip Robinson, Darren Covington, for Jeremy, and for all our patients who gave their lives to help us achieve the impossible."

In thoughtful silence, they both brought the glasses their mouths and drank to their patients; patients, they knew, that they'd never forget. Meredith leant over and rested her head in the crook of Derek's neck who then leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, then in turn rested his head on hers.

For a while they looked out over the dark horizon, content just to be in each other's world. Derek peered down at Meredith as she took another sip of her champagne. "You're all whole and healed?"

Meredith looked up at him. "I am."

"How did you manage that?" Derek asked softly.

"_I_ saw a shrink."

A smile appeared on Derek's face. "I feel sorry for the shrink."

"Hey." Meredith whacked him in the side. "It wasn't entirely my fault."

"I know," He looked down at her. "I am partly to blame for what happened to us."

"That's all I need to hear." She nodded in triumph.

Derek peered over to her again. "So now, if I say you're the love of my life, you won't want to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction."

"_Now_," Meredith smiled. "I can tell you you're the love of my life, and not want to run as fast as I can in the opposite direction."

"Well, in that case – " Derek got up and grabbed the bottle of champagne by the neck. "You're coming with me." With one swift move, he grabbed Meredith and swept her up in his arms.

She put her arm around Derek's neck. "Where are you taking me?"

"We're going to finish what we started." Derek smiled and trudged past the candles with Meredith in his arms, heading to his trailer.

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**NB: Ok, yeah, I know – short chapter, I just wanted to get that night out of the way so I can do the morning after for all characters. Or, at least, the majority of them. Still need to figure out whether to make a new character for Cristina but when I read other fics with new characters, I don't know – they don't seem to work. **

**But yes, shall try and get the new chapter up soonish, and I hope that I'll be able to get a bit more action in rather than just padding and stuff, but the padding does need to be done. So yes – REVIEW!!**


	3. Chapter III

**Finer Feelings – Chapter III**

Callie slowly opened her eyes as she lifted her head sleepily from the encompassing white, fluffy pillow. Suddenly, a glimpse of blonde beside her forced her head back down as the memories of the night before flooded back.

She was…she couldn't be…she'd never been attracted to women before and now suddenly she's in bed with one? Everything that had seemed to be perfect last night was now shrouded in doubt as the earliest morning rays scattered through the hotel curtains.

What was she talking about? She wanted this. She had actually _kissed_ her first, but now…now she's _doubtful_? Great timing, Callie thought, as always.

She needed to think. She needed to get out.

Slowly pulling back the covers, Callie didn't dare look back at the sleeping Erica as she slipped out of the bed as silently as possible, collected her scattered clothes, hurriedly put them on and rushed out of the hotel room

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Meredith stared blankly into her locker; a hand raised still holding it open as she tried to process everything that had happened the night before. She was all perfect and free last night in the corny candle house and Derek's trailer, but now she was in the hospital, in the real world, and quite a bit of herself was wondering whether everything that had happened was just a dream.

"Hey." Meredith suddenly snapped out of it and quickly turned to the door where Cristina had just walked in. "What's up with you?" Cristina looked at her quizzically as she slung her bag from her shoulder and opened her locker.

"I may have agreed to build Derek a house…" Meredith said slowly.

"Let me guess," Cristina continued to unpack her bag nonchalantly. "And it all ends with a wolf blowing it down."

"No, I actually think this is real. I think we decided we were going to be, well, extraordinary."

Cristina froze as she put on her scrub pants. "Wait – seriously? You mean you and him…"

"Made up."

"Man," Cristina sighed. "I gotta start a tally or something."

"Hey!" Meredith squeaked defensively as Cristina walked to the locker room door. Quickly she shut her locker and followed her out into the hallway. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying," Cristina continued to walk down the hall. "That you two have been up and down so much it could make someone vomit. And I'm not just talking about the motion sickness here."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Well, not any more. I'm cured or whatever. Remember, I was seeing a shrink – "

"And how does that make_ you_ feel??" Cristina added melodramatically.

"Shut up. My point is, I'm heeled. I've got all my crap intimacy issues figured out."

"Yeah, well – I'll believe it when I see it." Cristina said quickly as she moved behind the desk opposite the surgery board and checked the computer.

Meredith leaned over the desk opposite her and continued to waffle. "Turns out all my problems related back to my mother, which is all just some boring Freudian clique…" Suddenly Meredith went silent as she saw a brunette down the hall wearing nurses' scrubs. Instinctively, she abruptly fell to the floor, hiding behind the desk.

"Ah, Meredith?" Cristina looked up from the computer to see her friend not there. "Meredith?" She stood up from the chair and leaned over the desk to see Meredith crouched down with a paranoid look on her face.

"Did she see me?" She whispered.

Cristina raised her eyebrow. "Gotta say, if you're _not_ looking for attention, squatting in the middle of the hall _isn't_ the way to do it."

Meredith glared at her. "I'm hiding from Rose."

Cristina peered behind her. "Well, she's gone now so you can get up before someone drags you off to psyche. Not that you haven't been there before."

"Nice." Meredith continued to glare at Cristina and she stood up from the floor.

"Why are you trying to hide from the nurse anyway?" Cristina sat back down at the computer.

"It'll just be really awkward. I mean, I stole her boyfriend…"

"She stole your boyfriend first."

"Point."

"It's a hell of a point. You don't need to feel sorry for her, it's her own fault for getting in between _the couple_." Cristina got up from the computer and walked back out in the hallway.  
Meredith followed and pushed though the doors to the foyer. "I don't feel sorry for her, I'm just scared she's going to gauge out my eyeballs or something.

"Her name's _Rose_, she probably couldn't gauge a clementine."

Meredith smiled then drifted off with a thought. "You think it's bad, you know, for me to still be nervous about this?"

Cristina stopped quickly. "Wait, you mean you still don't know if you and McDreamy should be together? Seriously?"

"No!" Meredith promptly rebutted. "I can see us together, of course. I'm just a bit nervous about it – "

"Excuse me?" Suddenly, a Scottish voice interjected.

"What?" Cristina barked and turned around to face the annoying interrupter.

It was a tall man with sharp, but attractive features. His short brown hair formed a styled mess on his head, mirroring his five o'clock shadow. A dated Brit band t-shirt was visible under his crumpled jacket. "Sorry, I was just looking for the Chief of Surgery's office?"

Cristina continued to glare at him as she threw her arm over to the opposite direction. "It's just over there."

As the man thanked her Cristina turned back to Meredith and rolled her eyes. "Who did he think we were, tour guides? But like I was saying, it's perfectly fine to be nervous about it. I mean, I was nervous about everything when it came to me and Burke."

"Yeah, and look where that got you."

"Thanks." Cristina glared sarcastically.

"Hey guys!" Izzie's high voice suddenly appeared as they walked by the nurses' station, her flicking through numerous charts.

"What are you doing here so early?" Meredith looked at her curiously. "Shouldn't you be baking or whatever for Alex?"

"What do you mean?" Izzie suddenly turned paranoid.

"I mean the whole Ava/Rebecca thing. I thought you'd be comforting him."

"Oh, yeah, I thought he'd want some time alone." Izzie tried to shrug it off. "You know Alex."

"Yeah." Meredith nodded, "But maybe I should check on him, just in case."

"He'll be fine!" Cristina waved it off. "Now, let's have a look at these cases." Her hands groped for the folders in Izzie's arms.

"Hands off evil vulture!" Izzie tore the files away from Cristina's hands. "You have the sparkle pager, get your own case!"

As if on cue, the sparkly red and white pager that hung from Cristina's waist began to beep. "Ha!" She clutched it and shook it teasingly in front Izzie's face. "Saved by the bell."

"I'll take that!" Meredith plucked the pager from Cristina's hand.

"Hey!" Cristina looked heartbroken. "Give it back!"

"Nope." Meredith looked at the message then snapped the pager on her own waist. "I gave you the pager to get your mojo back, so now it's my turn again."

Cristina stared at Meredith seriously. "I lost my mojo again." She said frantically.

"No you didn't."

"I did – just down that hall. I swear."

"Oh, get your own case." Meredith turned her back from the two and walked over to the elevator to take her down to the pit. Patting her sparkle pager lovingly she waited as the solid doors began to open, revealing a very familiar brunette.

"Morning Meredith."

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**NB: OMFG!! Who could it be?? **

**Ok, not much of a cliffy but I promised it'll get better. Just need many many reviews to fuel my "Make Better" Machine. **

**But I guess I should first say hi! It's been a while. What, a few months? Some ridiculously long time like that. Yes, I thought I was finished with this fic but for some reason I woke up this morning and felt like going for it again. Blame it on princess diaries 2, I say. Thank god Shonda moved on from that. **

**But yes, this is my continued season 5. Hope someone is out there. Hello? Anyone? Nope, no one there.**

**So, hope someone likes this fic, and even if you hate it, please review. Cause like I said before, all my reviews are used as fuel for my "Make Better" Machine. All reviews are energy efficient, do not emit carbon dioxide, **_**and**_**, if you keep your Wall mart docket, you can save 4 cents a sentence. **

**So REVIEW!! You know you want to!**


	4. Chapter IV

**Finer Feelings – Chapter IV**

Meredith couldn't keep the smirk off her face as she walked into the elevator. "How are you going, Derek?"

As the metal doors closed, Derek clasped his hands behind his back and moved closer to her, staring down as he feigned sadness. "Honestly, I'm feeling a bit depressed."

"Really?" Meredith tried so hard not to smile as she looked up at Derek. "And why is that?"

"Well," Derek turned away wistfully. "There's this girl I quite like and me and her…" Derek looked back at Meredith. " – you know." Meredith nodded playfully. "But then the morning after I found she's run off without so much as a note. What do you think? Was she just using me for sex?"

"Definitely." Meredith nodded seriously. "And I'd watch out if I were you, people here are already thinking you're the village whore."

Derek just smiled then leaned closer to Meredith. "Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" He took her into a kiss. Small, but slow; like they'd do it every day for the rest of their lives.

"So." Derek beamed as he pulled back from the kiss. "I'm checking out some contractors at lunch. You want to come?"

Meredith looked a bit hesitant. "Lunch with building contractors?"

"That's the one."

"Doesn't sound that interesting."

Derek smiled. "You're probably right. That's fine, I'll go – I enjoy all the house stuff anyway."

"It's all just part of your fantasy."

Derek leaned in to Meredith once more. "You know what else is part of my fantasy…."

Suddenly there was a ding and the elevator doors opened on Meredith's floor as she sighed and pulled away from Derek. "I'll see you later." She hurried out of the elevator then quickly stopped, as a thought hit her. Turning around, she watched the doors close on Derek. "Love ya!" She shot out, leaving Derek's face grinning.

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Freckles.

Lexie swore to God that baby had freckles, even though freckles on a two-hour old baby were basically impossible cause there was no way the wet nurse thought 'hey, let's give him a bit of sun' and chucked him out on the balcony for a serious tanning session just minutes after it shot out of some woman's vagina.

Lexie snapped out. Ok, she was now officially mentally insane. She had been standing there, looking in on the newborns for about ten minutes now, hoping it would help calm her down. Realising she was standing way too close to the glass, she noticed the babies weren't helping.

Lexie sighed and turned down the hall. Maybe surgery could help. If she could get any, that is. Then again, maybe just doing sutures in the pit would help. Anything to get the fact that George kissed her out of her head.

George had kissed her! Ok, she knew it wasn't a real kiss, just a kiss of extreme gratitude, of friendship, but for some reason for her it was like a shock to the system. She had thought before that George was just her best friend; that stealing hospital homey things and the Chief's confidential files was just something a friend would do.

But then with that kiss, she felt something, and the thought came to her head that maybe it was more than friendship that made her do those things…

"Heya Lexie." A voice suddenly cut through her thoughts.

"George!" Lexie blurted out in surprise as she realised she was standing in the pit, with George in front of her, flicking through a file.

"You left early this morning." George said conversationally.

"Yeah," Lexie took in a breathe and tried to sound as calm as possible. "Just ah, had to do pre-rounds…and stuff."

"Cool, well, I gotta go see the Chief to talk about my retest." George smiled as he put the files back in the holder. "So, wish me luck!"

"Retest?" A voice appeared beside them.

"Oh!" George said awkwardly as Callie appeared. "Yeah, I'm ah…turns out I only failed the intern exam by one point so I can, you know, take the test again."

Callie smiled slightly as she looked down at the man she was once married to. "Well that's, that's just great George. I'm really proud of you."

"Yeah, so, I should go…" George muttered as he backed away from the two and walked out of the pit.

"Good luck!" Lexie managed to scream out after him.

Callie looked thoughtfully on as he disappeared, then sighed. Regaining her thoughts, she turned to Lexie. "Dr Grey."

"Yes Dr Torres."

"I have a knee reconstruction and I need an intern. Would you like to scrub in?"

Lexie smiled. Surgery! "Thank you Dr Torres." She instead replied in her most professional manner.

Whatever she did, she had to get over George, cause looking at Callie, the one thing she knew George didn't need was another complicated relationship.

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Webber signed yet another document then placed it on the pile of files that lay on his desk. Picking up a report that his assistant had just bought in, Webber flicked through it when a knock came from the door.

"Come in." Webber said mechanically as he continued to scan through the report. Hearing the door close, Webber looked up. "Ah," He smiled. "Ian. Please, sit down."

"Richard Webber." Ian sat down in the chair in front of Webber's desk. "It's been a while. Haven't seen you since…actually, I can't really remember when I've seen you since…" Ian mumbled off in deep thought.

"It was the medical conference in San Francisco three years ago." Webber smiled wryly. "And there was an open tab."

"Ah." Ian raised his eyebrows. "That'd explain it."

"So," Webber leaned back in his chair. "I have a case for you."

"About that," Ian crossed his arms. "Don't you already have an excellent Neo-Natal surgeon? I heard a rumour you'd hired Dr Montgomery-Shepherd."

"It's just Montgomery now, and she's left us for Los Angeles."

"Well," Ian glanced out of the window at the dark clouds rumbling in the distance. "Can't really blame her…"

Webber leaned down and picked up a medical file from the desk draw. "I've been handling her absence for a while now, shuffling the hard cases to neighbouring hospitals, Mercy West, Virginia Mason…but now I think it's time to fill the space. And I want you as Seattle Grace's Neo-Natal surgeon."

Ian just looked at him. "Permanently?"

"I'd sure hope so."

"Bit quick – don't you think – hiring me? We only just got past hello."

Webber leaned forwards and clasped his hands together on the desk. "No, I don't think it's too quick when you're one of the best Neo-Natal surgeons in the world with a history in Cardio Thoracics and I've got a Ectopia Cordis case on the second floor."

Ian's eyes suddenly lit up. "Ectopia Cordis?"

Webber smiled contently as he picked up the file on his desk and handed it to Ian, who quickly opened it up and held up the ultrasound to his face, a grin forming on his mouth. After studding the picture for a second, Ian put it down and looked at Webber, who was waiting expectedly.

"_Don't_ take this as me accepting your offer."

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**NB: REVIEW!!**

**See what I did there? I just totally spun my NB on its head!! (Cause, you know, usually I write 'REVIEW' last and now it's the first thing I said…. ok, I'll shutup.)**

**Hopefully no one wants to kills me now that I've brought in an entirely new character, cause honestly, whenever I read fanfics with new main characters, I immediately groan and start hating the fic. But that's just me. Hopefully it hasn't happened to you. Trying to make this guy the least embarrassing/ridiculously bland and uninteresting drop in character. **

**But shall move on. Included a bit of Callie with George there, cause I can't remember their last scene together, and thought they still like each other, even though they've got their own relationships to think about. Which brings me to Lexie. Personally, I'm a bigger George/Lexie fan than any other George coupling. I think they work great together. So this is a George/Lexie fic. **

**But now I would normally tell you to review, so instead, I will say HELLO!!**


	5. Chapter V

**Finer Feelings – Chapter V**

There was a knock on the door. Webber looked away from Ian to the door as it opened to reveal George, peeping around the corner.

"Err, Chief Webber?" George asked nervously.

"George!" Webber exclaimed kindly as he stood up in his chair. "Allow me to introduce you to our new Neo-Natal surgeon, Dr Stuart."

Ian shot Webber a blunt look then also stood up from his chair and faced George, who had edged into the office.

"You're replacing Dr Montgomery – Shep…I mean, Dr Montgomery?" George put out his hand to shake with Ian.

"It's news to me too." Ian glanced back to Webber, eyebrow raised.

"Well," Webber tried to correct himself. "He's not working here _yet_, but I have my ways. Now, O'Malley; what can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering, sir, about the intern test and when I can take it again."

"Yes. Of course." Webber fumbled through the papers on his desk and pulled out a sheet, holding it up for George. "You'll need to sign this. Now, the earliest you can do the test is in two weeks, is that too early?"

"No sir. I think I can do all the studying by then."

"Good. Now, in this two-week interval you are _still_ an intern, understand? You haven't past the test yet."

"Yes sir." George nodded.

"Good man. Now go sign it and I'll see you down at Surgery 2 in about an hour."

George nodded again then hurried out of the room, closing the door behind him quickly so the Chief and his company would not see his little dance of victory. Ian turned to Webber as George left the office.

"He's my intern." Webber explained proudly to Ian's unfazed stare.

"I'm not taking this job Richard."

"Why not?" Webber moved from behind his desk to the office door. "I mean, where else would you go?"

"Oh, you know; around." Ian shrugged.

Webber walked out of the office and Ian followed. "It's not like I'm going to bind you to a five year contract or something. Just stay for a few months. See if you like it. If not, you're free to go off country hopping or whatever it is you do."

"I like to call it _freelancing_." Ian stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Webber stopped down the hall and faced Ian. "Just, do it for a favour. For me."

Ian studied Webber's face for a second then sighed. "So, where's this Ectopia Cordis then?"

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Alex stared at the buttons on the elevator. Level 10 was psyche. He knew Rebecca shouldn't be in the hospital, for his sake, but she needed to stay there overnight before they could take her to a home. Alex wondered if she was still there. If she was still crying. If she still thought she had lost her baby.

Alex's hand moved over the 10 button then quickly pulled back. He couldn't do it. It killed him, but he knew he shouldn't see her again. It should be easy for him to run away. He knows how to run, he does it all the time, but this was going to hurt him.

Alex gripped his hand into a fist and smacked the metal wall in frustration. He hated being some weak mope. He needed to get over it, otherwise he'd spend days just sulking, and he hated when people sulked.

Elevator stopped and the doors opened as Izzie appeared.

"Oh." She said awkwardly. "Hi Alex."

Alex formed a faint smile. Somehow the anger he had felt had more or less melted away. He liked how Izzie did that to him. All that brightness must help in somehow.

"Hey Iz." Alex grunted.

Izzie stepped into the elevator next to Alex. "You ok?"

"I'm good." Alex replied simply.

Izzie looked at Alex anxiously then took in a breath. "Look, we need to – "

Alex quickly shot out his arm to stop the elevator doors from closing then walked out. "This is my level." He looked back to Izzie as the doors closed on her. "Good seeing you, though."

At least that, thought Alex, was the truth.

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Meredith sat at in the office by the nurses' station, completing her clinical trial account on the computer, mulling over the fact that no decent case had come out of the pit to give her an excuse not to finish the clinical trial account.

Of course she knew it was vital for her to write it, but she was a surgeon for god's sake. She doesn't write: she cuts.

Her train of thought was broken as someone moved into the office and sat down in the chair next to her. Swinging round from the computer screen, she found it was Derek.

"Hey." She smiled at him; chin still rested on her fist. "How were the contractors?"

"What?" Derek answered, slightly confused.

Meredith raised an eyebrow. "You know – building contractors. You said you were meeting them at lunch."

"Oh yeah." Derek replied dumbly. "Contractors…they were, good."

Meredith sharpened her gaze. "Derek? What's up?"

Derek looked up at Meredith. "You have to promise you won't freak out."

Meredith now looked at him seriously. "Why would I freak out?"

Derek sighed. "Ok, after my dad died when I was a kid, we've always had a big family dinner on the night of my parent's anniversary. When we all grew up and moved away, we still had the dinner every year, but it changed from house to house. I just got a call from my mom and apparently, as pay back for not attending the dinners for the last two years: this year's one is at my house."

There was silence for a second as Meredith looked, well, a bit freaked out.

"Are they aware that you don't _have_ a house?" A paranoid look began to form on Meredith's face.

"I think they do. Mom probably just wants to meet you."

Suddenly Meredith snapped. "They're going to crucify me!"

"They will _not_."

Meredith shot up from her chair and began to pace. "OH, yes they will. I'm the slutty intern who stole you of Addison, who they probably all love."

Derek stood up and grasped Meredith's hands, looking into her eyes, trying to calm her down. "You'll be great. They'll love you."

"I don't usually work well with family stuff."

"Well, think of this as practice then."

"Maybe we could just pretend we're broken up while they're here?"

"Meredith," A smile appeared on Derek's face as he gently cusped her cheek in his hand. "I want you to meet them. They're my family. I want them to meet the most importantly woman in my life, the love of my life."

"See, you say that now but you obviously don't care that I'll have four, maybe five, very sharp knives sticking out of my back at the end of it."

Derek grinned then took her into a small kiss.

"I'm sure at least one of them will like you." He stroked Meredith's face.

"I wouldn't count on it."

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**NB: Oh no! Family! Yes, the four sisters and matriarch are officially coming to Seattle! Which gets me thinking, what on earth am I going to call the other two? Fred and Jamie. That's good enough.**

**Right, so where was I? Oh yes, Alex is brooding, and Ian's trying to get across the fact that he ain't held down by no one! Yes. Very tough. **

**So, shall we have a preview for next chapter, I hear you ask. (Or, not really). Well, expect an awkward situation with Callica, a little conversation with Mark and Rose, maybe a meeting between Ian and Cristina, and a nervous rant from Meredith! Hopefully that gets your reviewing juices flowing, because reviews make me update quicker! Want to see if that's true? Well: Review!!**


	6. Chapter VI

**Finer Feelings - Chapter VI**

Rose buried her face in the charts she was filing, as she slunk back behind the nurses' station's desk. She thought she had done quite a good job at avoiding Derek the morning after he dumped her, and she was going to congratulate herself with kiss from Hershey when she was stopped in the foyer by the sight of Derek.

Derek in the office. With Dr Grey. _Kissing_ Dr Grey.

Without a moment's thought she swivelled on her feet and rushed down the hallways in the opposite direction, wishing to get away from both of them as quickly as possible without anyone noticing. Which is why she was now burying her face in files she had already organised, mixing them up and then organising them once more.

"Good morning Rose." A cool, deep voice radiated above her that made her jolt in nervousness, scattering the files around her.

"Oh." She looked up in a mix of relief and dread. "Dr Sloan. How can I help you?"

Mark leaned suavely against the desk, peering over at Rose. "Just wondering how you and Derek are going."

Rose glared at him. "I am _not_ going to say you were right."

Mark looked sincerely confused. "What are you talking about?"

Rose was slightly taken aback. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Mark's eyebrow was raised, his curiosity now drawn.

Rose looked at Mark for a second then promptly collected her files and stood up. "Nothing."

"Oh come on," Mark looked disappointed. "You're going to keep this juicy secret away from me?"

"No." Rose crossed her arms in defiance. "Derek can tell you."

"Derek barely tells me anything since I forgot to tell him I was sleeping with his wife."

"Well, that's your problem then cause I'm not going to tell you."

Mark sighed in annoyance. "Seriously, it's not like he dumped you or something."

Rose suddenly froze up. Mark raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh my god. He _did _dump you!"

Rose glared at him again. "I'm _not _going to say you were right."

"Come on," Mark grinned in victory. "You gotta hand it to me – I know the guy inside-out. _God_ he's predictable."

"Well, congratulations." Rose replied dully.

"Seriously though, you couldn't expect anything else when getting in between those two."

Rose clutched her files closer to her chest and walked out from the station. "I know."

Mark's smile faded as he watched Rose walk down the hallway. The thought suddenly popped up in his head that this was the first time he's really seen a woman after she'd been rejected.

He didn't think it was cool.

He needed to talk to Derek.

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Cristina waited around the ambulance bay. She needed a really good surgery. Something cutting edge, with blood and complex sutures so she could score another punch at Hahn again. So she had spent the past few hours scanning the surgery board, checking out the pit, and even venturing into the Free Clinic, which she backed out of as soon as she entered because Izzie became far too enthusiastic for Cristina to help her.

Yes, Cristina didn't have the sparkle pager anymore, but her mojo was back and pumping. Only problem was, she needed a kick-arse surgery to expel all that mojo energy, and kick-arse surgeries seemed to be in the decline today.

She heard the doors to the pit slide open behind her and she turned to see the Chief with that lost man behind him.

"Ah, Yang – I thought I'd find you here." The Chief smiled. "Allow me to introduce our interim Neo-Natal surgeon, Dr Stuart."

Ian smiled softly at Cristina. "I believe we've already met."

The Chief raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Cristina sighed in frustration; every second taken up by the Chief and his mindless introductions was a second she could be doing something useful – like waiting for a fantastic surgery. "Yeah. I hope you found your way to the Chief's office ok."

"Actually, you pointed me to the linen closet." Ian smiled ironically. "But I was able to work it out."

Cristina studied the man for a second when the Chief interrupted her. "Anyway, I have decided to assign you to a case he has today."

"Not with babies?" Cristina snapped to the Chief.

"Well it could be anything when it comes to _Neo-Natal_…" Ian chided her lightly.

Cristina threw Ian a glare then turned back to the Chief. "You can't give me a Neo-Natal case, I just got back into the cardio game!"

"Calm down Yang, it's a cardio case." The Chief sighed. "It's Ectopia Cordis."

"You mean the foetus' heart's grown out of its chest?" Cristina lit up in excitement. "Wait, didn't we have another one a few months back?"

"You had _another_ Ectopia Cordis case?" Ian turned to the Chief in astonishment.

"A few months back. I brought in Addison for the case, though she wouldn't take it this time because she thought I was just making up excuses to get her back." The Chief explained.

Ian shook his head. "Still, two cases in the same city in less than 6 months is pretty amazing. Must be something in the coffee. Guess that would explain _grunge_…"

"So Yang," The Chief turned back to Cristina. "Will you take the case now?" He held out the file to her.

"Of course." Cristina took the file and shot another glance at Ian, who for some reason was staring at her quite intently, a faint smile on his lips.

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Callie peered into the knee, trying in vain to clip back the layers of pastel white fat so she could get some sort of view of the joint.

"God," She murmured to herself as another white flap fell over the bone. "300 pounds and she was shocked she needed a knee reconstruction. You think you'd get the hint when you can't actually _see_ you knees anymore." She glanced up to Lexie who was holding the cauterising needle expectantly.

"Well," Lexie tried, scanning up and down the large mass on the operating table. "Maybe she didn't exercise because of her knee. Maybe this'll give her the inspiration to get healthy."

"Don't get too excited." Callie sighed and returned to the knee. "So," she began again as she got clear view of the joint. "I hear you've moved in with George."

"Oh." Lexie's face instinctively turned red. "Yeah."

Callie looked up at Lexie. "How's he going?" She asked sincerely.

"He's going good. I mean, he had a crap time for a few months but recently he's got a lot better. Like his old self…. which doesn't make any sense because I only met him a few months ago so definitely cannot know his old self but, you know what I mean. It feels like his old self. Probably."

Callie raised an eyebrow at Lexie's rant but then shrugged and went back to the knee. "Well, whatever he's like, you've done him good."

Under her surgical mask, Lexie beamed.

"Dr Torres!" A voice suddenly interjected from the end of the table. The anaesthesiologist had stood up and was staring at the stat monitor. "Her BP's dropping."

Callie looked up from the knee and placed her instruments back on the table. "How was the anaesthesia?"

"It's steady." The anaesthesiologist shook his head. "Nothing's changed, but her blood pressure's dropping…" They all turned to the stat monitor to see the numbers trickle down. "It's dropping rapidly."

"Gimme my stethoscope!" Callie barked as she moved away from the knee and up to the patient's chest. One of the scrub nurses ran to the back of the room and grabbed Callie's stethoscope. Rushing back to Callie who stood waiting with her bloodied gloves, the nurse placed the phones into Callie's ears then placed the drum over the patient's heart.

"Everyone keep silent!" Callie shouted out to the room then listened closely to the stethoscope. "Jesus." She murmured disappointedly. "She has got a massive leak. Someone page Hahn!"

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**NB: Ok, so I promised other things to happen in this chapter, like Hahn and Callie's awkward moment and Meredith's rant – but seriously, who wouldn't want to end a chapter with a leaky heart. I mean, come on, IT'S A LEAKY HEART!!**

**Right, probably overdid that a bit. But is it just me or when you read leaky heart do you also get an image of some old guy standing in the operating room, smoking a pipe while looking at the heart, then taping it with the stalk of his pipe then saying "yep, there's your problem."**

**I'm hoping it's not just me. **

**Anywho, because I didn't include those two things I'm going to immediately start writing Chapter VII! Too-roo!!**


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